LIVING IN THE PAST

 Those who have not learned from history are bound to repeat it

George Santayana

George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist poet and novelist. 

‘O World, thou choosest not’

By George Santayana  (b. 1863)

O WORLD, thou choosest not the better part! 

It is not wisdom to be only wise, 

And on the inward vision close the eyes,

But it is wisdom to believe the heart.  

Columbus found a world, and had no chart, 

Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;

To trust the soul’s invincible surmise

Was all his science and his only art.   

Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine 

That lights the pathway but one step ahead 

Across a void of mystery and dread.  

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine 

By which alone the mortal heart is led         

Unto the thinking of the thought divine.